Christine Bleakley has now returned to find out how the charity funding has been helping to transform lives

She was shocked at what she found.

To celebrate 25 years of Comic Relief she has now returned there to find out how the charity funding has been helping to transform lives..

When I first met Hajjara in a slum on the outskirts of Kampala three years ago I had no idea what to expect.

This was my first trip to see the work that Comic Relief do and as I sat down with this 16 year old girl I looked into her eyes and saw nothing. She had a blankness about her that I’d never encountered before and it disturbed me.

I was about to find out why.

With the stench of raw sewage swirling around us Hajjara, in a very matter-of-fact way told me how her mother died three years ago of Aids and her father left for another woman.

As if that wasn’t desperate enough three of the children were HIV positive with the youngest, Oruzia lying on the bed near us suffering from a high fever.

So at the age of 13 this girl had buried her mother, been deserted by her father and had become responsible for keeping her sick siblings alive with no money or support.

It was, by any standards, a wretched situation.

The only glimmer of hope in their lives came in the shape of a Comic Relief funded charity called NACWOLA who found out about the situation and arrived with food and crucially love.

The women from NACWOLA threw their arms around the children and ensured they ate regularly, which for the young ones with HIV was even more vital than usual.

The anti retro viral drugs they need to manage their condition require a decent diet and level of nutrition to be effective. Without it, they would be in real danger.

With all of these memories in my head I arrived to meet them and to say I was nervous was a real understatement.

I’d had contact in the three years since I was last here - written letters - looked at their picture on my mantelpiece at home every day, but seeing them would be different. How would they be now?

I needn’t have worried.

I barely recognised Hajjara when she came towards me, her beauty and vitality shone out, her eyes bright and full of life. This was a different girl. Or rather a different woman now.

The youngsters then appeared too, a little shy at first, then full of spark and energy. This was a transformation which was beyond belief.

And there too were the women from NACWOLA as they have been since the day I left three years ago.

With their daily help - which now extends to helping educate the family so they can escape the poverty trap for good - Hajjara and her family have against all the odds been able to overcome their tragic circumstances and begin to not just survive, but thrive.

For the past 25 years the money raised through Red Nose Day has been changing the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa. Let’s Keep Up the Good Work. Find out how at rednoseday.com